Police-involved shooting in Pigtown

Officers gather in Pigtown

Justin Fenton, Baltimore Sun photo

Justin Fenton, Baltimore Sun photo

Erica L. Green, The Baltimore Sun

Baltimore police said an officer who was integral in arresting a suspect in the Cherry Hill shooting that killed a 1-year-old boy Friday night shot a suspect connected to a Saturday afternoon shooting near a downtown deli.

The officer-involved shooting took place in the 300 block of S. Poppleton St. in Pigtown, according to Sgt. Eric Kowalczyk, who said the suspect was struck several times and is being treated at an area hospital. Kowalczyk said the man was armed but that it was not yet clear whether he shot at officers first.

But he said the officer attempted to arrest the man, who police believe was involved in a shooting in the 1100 block of W. Cross St. at around 3 p.m. Saturday.

The man was identified after the department put out a description of the Cross Street shooter, and Kowalczyk said the officers, "putting their own lives in jeopardy, challenged the suspect" when they spotted him a few blocks away.

Police did not identify the officer, but Kowalczyk said that he was instrumental in arresting a suspect in a shooting Friday night that killed a 1-year-old boy and injured his father.

"Here again today, he's helping to apprehend a suspect … but unfortunately had to discharge his weapon," Kowalczyk said. "This just goes to show that our officers are out at the right places, at the right times,"

But the police presence was not a welcome sight to residents who live on Poppleton and Ramsay, who had gathered across from the "Camden Crossing" development, where police tape blocked access to the freshly manicured lawns and pristine grounds that were usually full of neighborhood kids and dogs.

Kathy Glenn was walking up Poppleton when she saw officers running from different directions, and then heard gunshots that stopped her in her tracks.

"I just backed up, and didn't know which way to go," said Glenn, who has lived in the neighborhood for about 26 years. "I didn't see anything, and I didn't want to either."

She said that the new development was "the new safe haven" of the neighborhood, but in the past six to eight months there had been an increase of foot traffic and house break-ins, including at her own home.

Residents said in recent months the neighborhood had become a draw to drug dealers and users who took advantage of its low-key nature that didn't require a heavy police presence.

Chanel Wilcox also heard the gunshots, which she said resembled the ones she heard a few weeks ago when two men ran down the street shooting at each other.

"This is kind of devastating to me," said Wilcox, who has lived in the neighborhood for five years. "It's scary when this stuff keeps happening in broad daylight, right here in front of your home."

"It's a nice neighborhood," she said, adding that the trouble comes with non-residents passing through, "but we just want the nonsense to stop."